I am starting the p90x routine next week, which I plan to do in the mornings. Is it feasible to continue with my regular off season bike training, which consists of 45min to 1 hour on the trainer 5 nights a week and a 1 1/2 to 2 hour ride on Sundays?
My wife bought me a P90X package for my Birthday in August. Prior that that, since February '09, I had consistantly been doing a “Navy Seal Prep” program, 3 times a week. This program consists of a series of push-ups/sit-ups/chin-ups/dips. I normally did something like this: 40 push-ups, 60 sit-ups (on one of those big balls), 8 chin-ups, and 15 dips, all done as a superset with about 45 seconds between. Normally 4-5 sets.
I tried the P90X, and, found it quite similar, just some different types of exercises (i.e. different hand positions on push-ups and chin-ups). I found it to be a good workout, but, not really all that much better than what I was already doing. My main complaint about P90X, and really my only one, is that there is too much talking and bantering during the video. It took up a lot of time. I wrote down/memorized the workout, then, just did it on my own. Cut a 1 hour workout down to 15 minutes.
Anyhow, in answer to your question. I don’t see any problem with doing the P90X in the morning, then biking at night. That’s what I’ve been doing. I have been on a run focus, so I’m running 6 days a week, with 3 bike sessions. I normally do the P90X/Seal workout after my 6 mile runs, 3 time a week.
I never tried the aerobic type workouts from P90X as I had little interest.
Hope that helps.
I am starting the p90x routine next week, which I plan to do in the mornings. Is it feasible to continue with my regular off season bike training, which consists of 45min to 1 hour on the trainer 5 nights a week and a 1 1/2 to 2 hour ride on Sundays?
I tried doing the P90X program and the Endurance Nation out-of-season program at the same time. I started the P90X 2 weeks before the EN plan. I made it to week 5 of P90X and stopped. I could not maintain the intensity of both programs simultaneously. My bike workouts were starting to suffer.
I really liked the P90X program, but, it is an ass-kicker. I think I could have done the two if I was not trying to match the intensity of the EN plan.
I’ve been doing pretty much what you describe for about 6 weeks now. I’m able to pull it off, but I do lay off the P90X leg workouts. Sometimes I just take it easy, some days I’ll skip the leg sets altogether depending on how I’m feeling and what kind of bike workout I have planned. If you’re willing to adjust and modulate as you go, it’s do-able.
Like others have said, when you start actually trying to build some specific bike fitness- P90X will actually hurt your ability to produce power on the bike as well as delay recovery.
That said, I think it is a good off-season activity and worth a try, especially if you want to build some all over body fitness.
I just finished the 13 week cycle of P90X classic. For the 1st 4-6 weeks it was fine, my cycling volume was low as was cycling intensity. Then I started to step up the riding as well as measure my power. I would say that I was consistantly 10-20 watts low (from past winters) for specific workouts. Also, I did not recover from day to day bike workouts as well as past winters.
Do you need any special equipment other than the pull-up bar? Thanks!
I made it through the p90x and biked strong last year.
so its possible.
I want PT downloads and graphs to prove it :0)
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The pull up bar is a must. I use one of those you can hang in a doorway which, while not optimal, works fine. Otherwise, for the P90X you may need some stretch bands and a few dumbells. I can get by with the stretch bands. Hope that helps.
Mercer
I also bought the P90X stuff last year. At the beginning of it I said “I’m not going to do anything that I feel will affect my ability to bike and run,” so I just did the pushups, pullups stuff, and the core routine (Ab-RipperX, stoopid name). I skipped the arms routine because, while Tony likes his guns and therefore goes through friggin’ 10 different flavors of biceps curls, I saw no need.
The net was by about the 3rd session I just made a spreadsheet of the pushups and pullup flavors and banged them out while watching the news, during commercials, etc. I also set goals of x/y pushups/pullups per day and hit them throughout the day. I work from home and the pullup bar is in a door…taunting me…at all times. I made my own core routine from Tony’s and my own stuff.
At the same time I worked on improving my body composition via an iPhone app called LoseIt. Very, very eye opening. A great tool and very simple to use.
I gain muscle mass very easily and my longer term goal was Everest Challenge in September, a climbing race, so I stopped the program.
Bottomline is I think that a routine of pushups, pullups and core work is a good idea and I highly recommend you try out a nutrition/exercise tracking app like LoseIt. You’ll learn a lot. But I would stay away from anything that would compromise your ability bike and run. I know a couple local cyclists who jacked themselves up good by combining unmodified P90X with their normal roadie cycling.
I just finished my first week of P90X and was surprised to find that I enjoyed the routines. While there are a lot of push-ups and pull-ups in the “chest/arms” and “shoulders/legs”, I think the “yoga” and the “plyometerics” are great for the legs and core as well as flexibility. I have simply added these workouts into my TRI routine. Yes, it is an hour each day that I could be using on a tri-specific sport but I think it is a nice off-season twist. Nothing like 3-a-day workouts for the next 3 months!
As with any pre-described routine – you will modify each “move” to suit your personal needs.
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